Welcome to the Information for Suppliers section of the State Procurement Board website, which is designed to assist suppliers' understanding of how procurement operates within the South Australian Government.

This information presents an across government perspective of what is a broad and complex issue. It will continue to be updated over time to ensure it contains relevant and contemporary information for the use of existing and potential suppliers to the South Australian Government and encourage their active participation in opportunities to supply to Government.

Procurement Reform

Government has listened to the needs of the local business community by implementing a major procurement reform strategy that supports local business by improving procurement practice across government.

The reform strategy will make government a better customer by adopting the Premier’s Better Customer Charter for Business throughout the procurement process.

Better Customer Charter

The South Australian Government is committed to being the best public service customer to suppliers that do business with governments in Australia.

Recently, Cabinet approved the Better Customer Charter. The Charter sets out what current and potential suppliers can expect from the South Australian Government when they bid for procurement operations. The South Australian Government is progressing a range of initiatives that will bring this Charter into effect.

Procurement within the South Australian Government is governed by the State Procurement Act 2004 and is the responsibility of the State Procurement Board.

Procurement includes "procurement operations" which is the management of:

goods and services;

the supply of electricity, gas or any other form of energy; and

intellectual property.

In practice, procurement involves:

planning for the procurement;

the selection process;

establishing and managing contracts; and

the disposal of goods surplus to requirements.

Procurement is conducted on the basis of value for money and competition facilitates this by providing access by suppliers to government procurement opportunities.

Public authorities must comply with bilateral free trade agreements to which the South Australian Government is a signatory. Further information on this topic can be found in the International Obligations Policy.

Suppliers to the South Australian Government are expected to act in an ethical and professional manner. The Government’s publication Code of Ethics for the South Australian Public Sector sets out the high standards of professional conduct expected of every public sector employee in South Australia, and states that “the public expects the public sector and its employees to be impartial and not to be improperly influenced in the performance of their duties” and “public sector employees will not, for themselves or others, seek to accept gifts or benefits that could be reasonably perceived as influencing them”.

Consequently, any personal or private benefit gained in relation to procuring from a supplier will be in breach of the Government’s Code of Ethics.

Suppliers are to refrain from making such offers to government employees. Government contracts have been updated to ensure that these offers to public servants are recognised as a breach of contract.

The State Procurement Board policy statements themselves are not intended to be prescriptive. This approach enables the Chief Executives of public authorities to develop strategies that will most effectively meet their business needs. Chief Executives will ensure that all procurements are consistent with the State Procurement Board policies.

To view the current State Procurement Board policies, see the “Policies and Guides” section of this website.

Public authorities are required to follow State Procurement Board policies. These include government agencies and instrumentalities (which includes all South Australian Government departments and their administrative units), certain statutory authorities and corporations as defined by the State Procurement Act 2004.

Subject to State Procurement Board policies, each public authority can develop its own procurement processes and procedures, meaning that these may vary from one public authority to another (yet are still consistent with the overarching policy framework of the State Procurement Board). Public authorities are responsible for making purchases and are also generally responsible for conducting their own procurement processes to select suppliers and establishing supplier arrangements.

For further information about who undertakes procurement and the purchasing requirements for public authorities, please refer to individual agencies. A list of procurement contacts within major agencies is provided below.

ICN Gateway (https://gateway.icn.org.au/) provides a platform for local suppliers to supply to lead contractors of major infrastructure projects, as well as projects in other sectors. A basic registration is free. Contact ICN for more information on 1300 553 309.